Friday, April 1, 2016

If you've been following my previous posts, you saw my theme was "black." I thought, "yay, so much leeway!" Then I realized…so much leeway. How do I make the pieces work together?

I decided that on top of pulling from current fashion, I should look back through what I'd done to see if there were any themes, any strong points. I also looked at what I'd ordered lately to see if my mind knew something I didn't. It does that sometimes!

They reminded me of tiles, and suddenly I could see a bistro, open late of course, with the pops of bright reds, hints of sparkle from the lights, and flowers all around. Perhaps a small box garden lining the front of the building…and maybe even a nice, full moon. I could see a female customer, in her flowing, floral skirt and heels, with a butterfly clip in her hair. (Is this my customer, who knows? ;) )

A lovely bow and floral motif, a modest statement necklace, a convertible necklace/bracelet, and one of my favorite butterfly designs modified and made into the colors. Black is hard to photograph! Those centers in the silver flowers in the bottom necklace are actually Siam Swarovski Crystals, but the camera doesn't want you to know that. Here's another view:

"Hang on, where did the color go, and where is that fifth piece?"

(That was Ookie! He's late to our party, but he promises he'll be here tomorrow.

*folds arms and pouts* But I digress.)

The first four above (Sir Fifth Piece not appearing in this film*) are now a sub line I've tentatively dubbed Moonglow Garden. This is because my "second" fifth and sixth pieces came out more like these below. I realized I was making a turn, and that I should just let it flow and see where this went instead.

Did I mention black was hard to photograph?

Okay, with that out of the way, here's the ACTUALMidnight Bistro line!

"Geez, that's a lot, can we zoom?" Clicking the photo should do it.

I used the red and white cabochons I'd initially painted as a bouncing off point. Here are a few before and after pieces:

Slight bit of a difference.

First I added the reds back:

There goes those Siam Swarovskis again. HOW do you photograph them? They're so vibrant in person.

Aha! You have to have direct sun coming from the side.

I had the Peony Cabochon and a certain color in mind...I couldn't wait to use it. I added some soft pink just for good measure. The beads on the leftmost necklace are handmade millifiori beads with tiny pink roses.

"They're so soft, they're soft focus!" Boy, I wish I could show you these colors in person...

(Remember what I said about my mind knowing something I didn't? Look at the Pantone Colors of the Year, there! My Inner Designer was paying attention, and used Rose Quartz and Serenity without my even realizing it. Nice!)

Most pieces had no special backings, but in addition to the one up above, these two pieces below did. Those floral star pieces come in handy here.

I had some good sun today, so I've gotten some better closeups for you:

You can sort of see the variegation I was able to get on the leaves. Painting these was so much fun. You get a better view of the pink millifioris, too. I achieved the glow on the little pink cabochon in the middle pendant by silver leafing the back. It was initially a clear pink piece.

Welp, there's my run-through. Oh wait, I should show you I still have lots to come. Including that pesky Ookie!

I'm still fiddling with that red floral pattern piece.

I might even try some cagework. Yipes!

I would like to thank Brenda Sue Lansdowne for hosting this class; I've learned SO much! Through this class I have come to understand that I'm in an exploratory phase, that I don't need to push myself to bigger business jussssst yet. I'm enjoying the ride. :)

(*We apologize for the unavoidable Monty Python joke.)

PS: Ookie is fashionably late, as always.

I'm playing around, but the idea was too much fun not to try.

Click here to see where the idea originated.
It was fun trying to figure out how to anchor strung pearls without making a small strand for each swag. Can you spot the secret?

Friday, February 26, 2016

....of design!

Welcome to the second installment of the B'sue Boutiques Build A Line Challenge Blog Hops!

We got to really thinking about our sources of inspiration this time, and I wanted to share a few. As an artist of multiple media, I never know where inspiration is going to strike, but this class has opened my eyes to something I'd crazily overlooked. I've always been a fan of getting the gears turning watching things like Project Runway and the like, but for whatever reason, I never connected it to trying to find out what was on the major runways to see what that might inspire. Boy, what a treasure trove!

I wanted to treat my Black theme as the Black Dress, a foundation on which to build. Not letting it get lost, not letting it get too heavy, or too cliché. The wonderful pops of color this year, patterns…all inspired me to think what might go with some of these lovely dresses, and what might I pull from them if I wanted the general feel without going over the top. It's been great to feel that rush of creativity again with "what can I do with this?"

One of my experiments, a plain clear cab, given a silver back and a little color. Work in progress.

I love working this way, putting it all out in front of me and just seeing where it goes. It began to flow, and I'm loving what's happening so far. I would love to show you the bigger pile, but that gives away too much!

I have given thought, as I dove into my pile headfirst, as to which of the categories we've talked about in the class that I thought I fit into: the hobbyist, the maker, or the designer. Volume and income wise, I know I'm qualifying as hobbyist, but the way I'm gathering things and planning is the mind of a maker.

Does that make me a Mabyist?

As in "maybe I'll sort this out?"

I realized today I'm in Explorer Mode right now with all these new ideas, feeling it all out, seeing where it goes. I need to give myself room to see how I work best, without the pressure; I've been too hard on myself with the business end. In fact, I actually realized it's been the thing that's kept me hopping around so much design wise; too much pressure to find what worked for the market, leaving myself out of the equation too much. That's not good for creativity!

Speaking of creativity, this lovely lady has been popping up for me everywhere I go lately, no kidding!

Artist Frida Kahlo

From wall murals down the street, to random people's teeshirts… she even showed up in class! Wow! She's good inspiration, too, so I'm taking it as a sign.

And yes, Ookie is still here.

He's in his finest ink, and we're taking him out on the town. All gets revealed April 1. Stay tuned!

Friday, January 29, 2016

I LOVE this class!! (In fact, I've already learned so much, I realized I have way too much for one post (or three)! So, I'll be spreading my thoughts out between hops in order to get right to the meaty goodness today.)

This was starting my point--a collage of previous pieces I've made:

"Lovely bunch of designers, isn't it? Wait, it's all one person?"

Over the years, I've done a lot of different things, as you can see, but I've never created a jewelry lineon purpose with the intent of presenting pieces as a group. Especially reproducible ones. As a result, my customers may have experienced both the good and the bad side of never knowing what to expect from me.

I draw from so many things, enjoy so many techniques...where would I start? What to keep, toss, or transform? Who is my customer? Who am I? It can get pretty introspective pretty quickly, but you learn so much just by asking yourself these things. (Now you know why I need more than one post to tell you about what I've discovered, stay tuned!)

I've joined the B'sue Boutiques Build A Line Challenge this year in the hopes to sort some of this out.

One challenge here is for me to learn the practice of creating a set of pieces that have elements that tie them together; that look like they all came from the same person, that all sing the same song...even if I don't have my style "voice" nailed just yet.

"You're singing right now, aren't you?"
Maybe. I do have that "teach the world to sing" song stuck in my head now, though.

Those of us in the class each picked a theme that would be at the center of our lines, and for this first blog hop, we get to reveal them! So here is mine:

"Wait, what? Did you drop ink on your B'sue order?"

No, no...my theme is BLACK. I've been gathering supplies and feeling out some ideas.

"You're making mourning jewelry? When did you go full-on Goth?"

Well, no. There's going to be more. It's more like "Black & Something."

"That's not a good name for a line."

We're working on that.

As I've been nosing about researching historical periods and peeping in on current runway shows (and boy at the posts that'll be coming out of that), I realized my theme has given me a great gift...and a challenge unto itself. If black is the thread that weaves the line together, I can meander around different styles to a degree--do some experimentation, even, and it will all still work together. I could technically use anything.

Anything?

Anything.

So much to explore... I can't wait to see where this goes! The blog hop, though, goes onward!